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For inspiration on developing innovative Alexa skills, check out the Wayne Investigation, a skill developed by Warner Bros. to promote the recently released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice feature film. In this audio-only, interactive adventure game, you’re transported to Gotham City a few days after the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents. You play the part of a detective, investigating the crime and interrogating interesting characters, with Alexa guiding you through multiple virtual rooms, giving you choices, and helping you find important clues.

The game, created using the Alexa Skills Kit, is collaboration between Amazon, Warner Bros., head writers at DC Comics, and Cruel & Unusual Films (the production house run by Batman v Superman’s director Zack Snyder and executive producers Debbie Snyder and Wes Coller). With these companies behind the game and its affiliation with a superhero film franchise, it’s not surprising that The Wayne Investigation was a big hit.

But it’s become enormously popular on its own accord. Launched on March 1, this was the first Alexa skill to combine Alexa technology with produced audio assets—namely, compelling music and sound effects—and the response has been extraordinary. During its first week, the Wayne Investigation was engaged 7x more (per weekly average) than all other skills combined. Currently the Wayne Investigation rates in the top 5% of skills (earning 4.8 out of 5 stars) and is the #1 skill for both total time spent engaging with the skill and average time spent per user.

The team scripted the experience by building it around a gaming map with directions and actions in each room. Once the script was finalized, they used a decision tree model to translate the experience into code, which is hosted in AWS. From three starting actions, users can make up to 37 decisions, each taking the user down paths that lead to new and iconic Gotham characters and locations before completing the game. An efficient (and lucky) walkthrough of the Wayne Investigation takes 5 to 10 minutes, but fans who want to explore every nook and cranny can spend as long as 40 minutes in this Gotham City.

An added benefit of creating the Wayne Investigation skill is that it led to the creation of a tool that allows developers to graphically design interactive adventure games. Today, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve made a tool with source code available to make it easier for the Alexa community to create similar games.

To experience the skill, simply enable it in your Alexa companion app and then say, “Alexa, open the Wayne Investigation.”